“Did it come through?” she asked Sid. A short time later, her eyes went wide. “You’re sure?”
Gen practically tap-danced in place, dying of curiosity. Me too.
“Yes, please do,” Mina continued. “Thank you so much. I’ll await your call.” Then she hung up, stunned.
“What?” Gen demanded.
Mina stared at her phone, processing what she’d just learned.
“Sid just saw a listing for Dad’s painting. It’s going up for auction tomorrow evening at a shop in Belleville, in the nineteenth arrondissement.”
Gen clasped her hands in hope. “That means it hasn’t been destroyed or damaged.”
“Hopefully not,” Mina said.
“Wait. How would Sid know the painting is missing?” I asked.
Gen rolled her eyes. “You’re always so suspicious.”
“I prefercareful,” I emphasized. Something not at all in Gen’s nature.
“Sid is always scouring flea markets and auction listings,” Mina explained. “It’s how he makes a living, along with painting portraits.”
That, I remembered. The ex-art forger also painted pet portraits in the style of any grand master a client requested, like bulldogs in classic Napoleon poses. Pretty kitsch, if you asked me, but people with money to throw away on such things were unlikely to ask anyone, let alone a guy like me.
“Can we trust him? This could be a setup,” I warned.
Gen rolled her eyes. “Sid was one of my dad’s closest friends.”
“So was Gordon,” I pointed out.
Bene chuckled. “Sid is an art forger. What’s not to trust?”
“Ex-art forger,” Mina emphasized.
As if that made me feel better. But Gen was her usual runaway train, charging down tracks that hadn’t yet been laid.
“We need a plan, fast. We need to be there,” she insisted.
Even Mina, the more cautious sister, plowed ahead. “Oh, we’ll be there, all right.”
“Can I suggest you leave this to us?” Marius tried.
Mina’s look was uncompromising. “What do you know about art auctions?” She let a pregnant pause tick by, then exchanged sassy looks with Gen. “I say, you leave this tous.”
I exchanged wary glances with Marius, but neither of us said a word.
Chapter Seventeen
ROUX
“I fear Celeste is baiting you,” I warned the sisters the next evening, shortly before the auction in Belleville.
“Well, she’s baiting the wrong dragon,” Mina declared. Little puffs of smoke escaped her nostrils.
Gen leaned back, wide-eyed. “Whoa. I keep forgetting you can do that.”
Marius expelled an angry puff of his own, and Mina shot him a lovey-dovey look. I used to roll my eyes at that, sure Marius was going soft. Now, well…
